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Sky ships
'''Sky ships '''were flying vessels used during the First Age of Flight. They resembled ships from the 18th century, with weights hanging from their sides, and more numerous and appropriately placed sails. Overview In the center of the vessel, a flight-rock was used to maintain buoyancy. The equilibrium could be changed by heating or cooling the rock, where heating it would cause it to sink, and cooling it would cause it to rise. On top of this, to counteract any excess buoyancy, weights of varying masses were hung from the sides. These were used to better control the ship's movement, on top of the sails, which were used to manipulate the ship's direction according to the wind. Atop the mast was the Caternest, which served as a lookout post. Sky ships came in many varieties. Some, like sky pirate ships and stormchasers, were sleek and fast, with large, high-quality flight-rocks. Some, like sky ferries and sky barges, were tiny, two- or three-seaters with miniscule flight-rocks. Most League ships were massive, cumbersome vessels, with multiple flight rocks or a flight-rock rubble cage. During the First Age of Flight, sky ships played a crucial role in Edgeworld commerce. Due to the danger of traveling across the Twilight Woods and the Mire, transporting goods between Undertown and the Deepwoods over the ground was almost impossible. Thus, most exports were carried on sky ships. When Stone-Sickness attacked the Edge, sky ships ceased to function, and the politics and trade of the Edge changed dramatically. Members of a Sky Ship Crew *Captain *Lieutenant *Quartermaster *Lookout *Stone Pilot *Guard(s) *Cook *Doctor *Deckhand *Harpooneer Parts of a Sky Ship The description of a sky ship varied dramatically depending on whether it was a sky pirate ship, a league ship, a rubble barge, or one of many other specialized types of vessels. However, a fairly large standard sky ship usually contained most of these features: Aftcastle The aftcastle was a superstructure on the sky ship's stern. The aftcastle contained the Captain's cabin, the bridge, the infirmary, and the galley. The cables connecting the bridge to the hull-weights also ran through the aftcastle. Flight Levers The flight levers were two long rows of bone-handled levers which were located on either side of the steering wheel. One row controlled the hull-weights, and the other row controlled the sails. They were used by the captain to maintain the sky ship's angle, speed, and balance. Caternest Located on the top of the main mast, the caternest was a lookout point similar to a crow's nest. Some caternests actually consisted of caterbird cocoons, although this was rare. Flight Rock The most distinguishing and vital feature of a sky ship was its flight rock, enclosed within a vast wooden cage between the fore and aft hulls. The flight-rock of a ship sank when hot, and rose when cold. The temperature of the rock was controlled by a Stone Pilot, who uses the flight burners and cooling rods on the flight rock platform to alter the ship's altitude. Cold earth was often released onto the rock as a method of quickly cooling it. The flight rock was penetrated by various pipes that transferred heat around it. The cooling rods usually were covered in ridges which increased their surface area and allowed them to cool the rock more efficiently. Flight Rock Platform and Flight Burners The flight rock platform was situated on top of the flight rock cage and had several levers built into it that allowed the ship's Stone Pilot to control the temperature with cooling rods and bellows connected to the flight burners. The flight burners were flaming torches mounted near the flight rock and connected to it through metal pipes that provided the heat needed to control the sky ships altitude. Fore and Aft Hulls The hull of a sky ship was split into two sections: the fore hull normally contained the crew's sleeping quarters and a hold, and the aft hull contained a cargo bay (which featured hinged doors to allow the removal of cargo from below if the sky ship needed to jettison extra weight in an emergency), and a food store. Hull Weights The hull weights were a series of weights chained to the hull used to control the sky ships balance. They were adjusted by the flight levers. Usually, a sky ship featured a stern-weight, prow-weight, small, medium, and large starboard and port hull-weights, mid-hull weights, peri-hull weights, neben-hull weights, and klute-hull weights. Sails Because every side of sky ships were exposed to the air, they were covered with several sails to aid mobility. These are controlled by the flight levers on the bridge. Usually, a sky ship featured a foresail, an aftsail, a topsail, two mainsails, a skysail, a staysail, a studsail, a boomsail, a spinnaker, and a jib. See also *Sky Ships of the Edge Category:Devices Category:Vehicles